Shortfall of 1509 rooms in Vasant Kunj Games accommodation

Only 3,500 out of the planned 5,009 rooms at the Vasant Kunj accommodation for Commonwealth Games visitors are likely to be handed over to the Tourism Ministry for furnishing before the mega sporting event.

This was "informally communicated" to ministry by the DDA, officials said.

Besides, the ministry is also pinning its hopes on four new hotels expected to be operational this month-end and five hotels which are to start functioning next month. They will make 2030 rooms available during the Games.

"Till now, we have got only 407 flats out of 2709 flats proposed to be developed for the Commonwealth Games in Vasant Kunj. We are expecting 417 more completed flats to be handed over to us by the month-end," said a senior Tourism Ministry official.

As per earlier estimation, Tourism Ministry was expecting to get 5009 bedrooms out of these 2709 flats in Vasant Kunj for the Games technical staff and guests during the event.

"However, it seems that we would be getting only 3,500 completed rooms for furnishing and not 5,009 rooms as proposed earlier," the official said, adding, "More than 400 flats are unlikely to be completed before the Games and the DDA has informally communicated to us about it."

ITDC, which has been entrusted by the ministry with the job of creating and running additional alternative hotel accommodation for visitors during the Games by suitably furnishing 2709 flats in Vasant Kunj, will take at least three weeks to furnish the rooms once completed flats are made available to it.

The rooms are to be fully furnished with TV sets, refrigerators, electric kettles, linen, wall paintings and other items to make them on par with 3-Star hotel facilities.

"As far as the Games Village is concerned, we are trying to complete the furnishing of 5176 rooms by August 31," said the official.

However, the ministry is not that worried about the shortfall of rooms as there are indications that not many rooms would be required during the Games.

"There is a decline in demand for rooms. Even guest house owners or hotels are also not getting any good response till date," said the official.

11,000 rooms are being readied by guest houses for the Games besides 2200 rooms under Bed and Breakfast scheme.

Though not many new hotels could come up in the capital due to various reasons, a good number of hotels have started operating in the neighbouring areas like Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

While 7000 rooms are being made available in Gurgaon and Faridabad, 3500 rooms are currently available in Uttar Pradesh for the Games.

It was estimated earlier that there would be requirement of 30,000 rooms in addition to the existing 10,000 rooms in Delhi and nearby areas during the Games.